


Promise me this...

by wayfinderings



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Puella Magica Madoka Magica, Angst, Magic, No Beta, Time Travel, can be read as platonic or romantic, hesitant to actually tag this as soriku due to the nature of the AU source material, it wasn’t explicitly written as either, magical girl au, no prior knowledge of pmmm required, riku is madoka, sora is homura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 07:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21352471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayfinderings/pseuds/wayfinderings
Summary: “You have time magic, right, Sora? That means you can go back and change this...right? You could change things to keep things from turning out this way…”~When they had made their wishes, Sora and Riku would never have guessed things would have turned out this badly. They had lost good friends and allies along the way, but it had never crossed their minds that they could just as easily lose each other as well...
Relationships: Sora & Riku
Kudos: 5





	Promise me this...

**Author's Note:**

> For y'all's convenience, I'll explain a tiny bit of the lore that's been changed to fit the AU. I tried my absolute hardest to make it to where a viewing of the Madoka Magica series wouldn't be necessary to enjoy the oneshots I plan to write for this!
> 
> \- Soul Gems house the souls of those who choose to make a wish and become Keybearers (and effectively become an empty vessel for magic that cannot feel pain under most circumstances). Once a soul gem is separated by a certain distance from its owner, their magic can no longer keep their body animated, and they essentially become a dead body to be disposed of (although that particular piece of information isn't quite relevant just yet..)  
\- Nobodies are the equivalent to Witches in PMMM. They are what Keybearers turn into once all of their magic has become corrupted and can no longer be contained within their soul gems. They create and roam a pocket dimension called a Labyrinth, and often try to trap unsuspecting humans within them to create lesser nobodies (such as the Dusks) they use to defend themselves against Keybearers who come to hunt them. Unlike the Organization Nobodies in canon, Nobodies created from Keybearers are simply mindless destruction machines with a wealth of dark magic at their disposal.  
\- Shadow is a simple shadow Heartless, but with telepathic abilities that allows it to speak to those it could potentially contract with and turn into Keybearers.  
\- Lux and Dark Orbs are the equivalents of the Grief Seeds in PMMM. Lux draws out darkness from a Keybearer's soul gem and purifies their magic so they can continue to hunt Nobodies and protect the worlds they live in, and becomes a Dark Orb once it has been used to draw out a certain amount of Darkness. Lux is typically only collected after a strong Nobody is defeated, and it's typically only one or two orbs.
> 
> I do believe that's everything, so without further ado, enjoy!

Clouds lazily drifted across the sky, painted in shades of the most beautiful corals and purples as they wept for the tragedy that had just taken place. The beautiful World of Radiant Garden, once a bustling community full of people with streets lined with flowers of every color was now laid to waste with almost nobody in sight.

The air was thick with an energy unfamiliar to most: the energy of a Labyrinth, the home of Nobodies dead set on spreading the sadness and despair that filled them to the brim with anyone who was unlucky enough to come close enough to be drawn in. This particular Labyrinth, a most unusual one that encompassed the entire city and made its master visible to all who remained within its limits, was home to a menacing Nobody that the Keybearers had taken to calling  _ Xemnas _ .

Upon receiving word that  _ Xemnas _ would emerge, most of the Keybearers living in Radiant Garden had fled, knowing they would be able to hunt less dangerous Nobodies on other Worlds and seeing no point in facing down an enemy they knew would be almost impossible to defeat. There remained only two who had contracted and dedicated their private hours to protecting the citizens of the city, and they had been no match on their own.

Battered, bruised, and running on fumes, two boys clad in simple blue and white school uniforms that had long since been thoroughly soaked laid among the ruins on the outskirts of the city, simply watching as  _ Xemnas _ floated off towards what remained of Radiant Garden. Each of the two held a small, heart-shaped gemstone - the very culmination of their beings - in their outstretched hands laid between them, colored red and purple respectively, though the angry dark clouds swirling just under the gems’ surfaces made the colors almost indistinguishable.

“So this is it, huh?”

A weak laugh followed the question, though with how rough and broken it sounded, someone could have easily mistaken it for a cough. That was, if anyone had been left to hear it. Wet, chocolate brown spikes flopped to the side as Sora turned his head to look at his partner, struggling to see properly with his broken glasses.

“I suppose so…” was all Sora could think of as a response. There was no point in arguing, telling Riku he needed to think on the bright side like he usually would have done. The bright side was a lifetime away, it seemed, left behind the moment each of them had made their wishes and become Keybearers. “You wouldn’t happen to have any Lux on you, would you?”

Riku shook his head, tendrils of his brilliant silver hair sending ripples through the puddle that had accumulated and covered every inch of the ground as far as one could see. Sora sighed wistfully, though he shouldn’t have been surprised. If any Lux were to be had between the two of them, they wouldn’t be lying in rubble waiting to turn into Nobodies themselves.

Silence returned between the two, thick and heavy and practically suffocating. Though there wasn’t much to be said, the lack of conversation set Sora on edge. When he wasn’t talking, he was thinking, and he wasn’t fond of where his thoughts often led after certain recent developments concerning his, and every other Keybearer’s, current situation.

“Hey, Riku?” he asked, not entirely sure where exactly he was planning on leading the conversation. Dark teal eyes clouded with sadness and a myriad of other emotions glanced over in his direction, the eye contact answering for Riku in his verbal silence. “I’m not exactly looking forward to turning into a Nobody...but, I think I’ll be okay, so long as I’m with you. We’ll cause trouble, we’ll hurt people, and we’ll put an end to everything…and we’ll do it all together…”

Riku’s eyes widened, surprised by the sudden bout of pessimism that had overtaken his friend as he watched tears trace paths across Sora’s cheeks as his eyes squeezed shut and he shook with the effort of keeping his head on straight and preventing a breakdown.

“Doesn’t that sound great, Riku?” he finished, though it was painfully obvious he was less than enthralled with the idea. Not even Sora could manage to put a positive spin on their current situation, though Riku silently commended his efforts, however morbid.

With a sad smile, Riku reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a shining white orb. He felt a bit guilty for having lied to Sora about not having any Lux left, but had he known Riku only had one orb, there was no way he would let it be used on himself. Turning onto his side, Riku reached out and pressed the orb of light into Sora’s palm right beside his Soul Gem, watching as the dark clouds began to fade as they were pulled into the orb of Lux.

Feeling a sudden surge of energy, Sora’s eyes flew open, meeting Riku’s in a mix of disbelief, sadness, and surprise. Another wave of guilt rushed through Riku’s heart, though it was to be expected. He sighed, struggling to keep eye contact with Sora.

“Turns out I still had one orb left…” he said, his voice little more than a whisper, “Sorry for lying to you.”

“Riku…” Sora murmured, his words still miles behind the thousands of thoughts racing around in his mind. Finally grasping onto a train of thought, he held onto it as if for dear life, managing to piece together a coherent sentence amid the panic he felt rising in his chest. “What are you doing!? You earned that! You should be using it on yourself!”

He felt bad for yelling, but when surprise mixed with panic in the way it was at the moment, it was hard for Sora to think and react logically. In this particular instance, that meant shouting at Riku, which was something he would never have done if he was in the frame of mind to think properly.

A broken laugh escaped Riku’s lips. “Now why would I do that...when there’s something I need you to do?”

Sora’s eyes widened, the words taking him by surprise. Apparently Riku was full of them at the moment. “Something you need me to do?” he repeated, unable to think of what else to say as Riku nodded as an affirmative.

“You have time magic, right, Sora?” The question was rhetorical, of course. Given that the two of them had been working together for as long as Sora had been a Keybearer, they each knew the other’s magic inside and out. Regardless of this fact, Sora gave a nod, not quite sure where Riku was going with this train of thought.

He felt his heart drop as Riku pressed the orb of Lux more firmly into his palm against his Soul Gem as the darkness continued to be drawn out and the red color it took on could begin to be seen again. Under any other circumstances, the strength Sora could feel returning to him would likely have been accompanied by a feeling of euphoria, but knowing he was being saved while effectively leaving Riku behind left a bad taste in his mouth. It was bittersweet, to say the best of it, albeit with much more of the “bitter” than the “sweet”.

“That means you can go back and change this...right?” Sora could hear the fatigue working its way into Riku’s voice, “You could change things to keep things from turning out this way…”

Sora swallowed roughly, feeling another round of tears welling up in his eyes. On top of the tired note Riku’s voice now carried with it, the usual sparkle in his brilliant seafoam green eyes had all but disappeared, blinked out and stolen away before Sora could have done anything about it. It wasn’t right seeing him like this, with pieces of himself missing from their usual places, just waiting to fall apart completely.

“I realize I’m being extremely selfish in asking this of you, Sora, but…” Riku began, pausing for a moment to fight against the tears Sora wasn’t quite sure if he was imagining to be gathering in his eyes, “Would it be too much to ask you to keep me from contracting with Shadow?”

Sora could feel his blood boiling at the mere mention of the small creature’s name. It was all thanks to that heartless creature that Sora had lost so many friends and he and Riku found themselves in their current situation. There had been no time to mourn for their losses, and all Shadow seemed to care about was creating energy to power the universe, or something like that. With absolutely no guilt or remorse to be felt, it simply glanced over casualties like they weren’t worth its time, and that was something Sora couldn’t forgive.

“Of course not!” he had almost let the words slip out before Riku had finished asking his question. It almost scared him to admit, but there were very few things he could think of that he  _ wouldn’t _ do if Riku asked him under normal circumstances, and there were even fewer things he could think of denying Riku in their current situation when his request was practically his dying wish. “Even if I have to go back more than once! I’ll do whatever it takes!”

Riku let out the tiniest of chuckles at Sora’s hastiness to respond to his question as the orb of Lux in his hand flashed purple. Turning his gaze to their Soul Gems, he smiled seeing the perfect and brilliant red of Sora’s shining that shone as brilliantly as his smile next to his clouded purple one. The contrast was akin to that of night and day, and under any other circumstances, it would have been almost beautiful.

That being, it would have been, had the darkness clouding the gem not been so malicious.

With the smallest pulse of deep purple light, to say that Riku felt like he had been hit by a truck would have been the understatement of the century. In a single instant, the pain of every injury he had sustained in his time as a Keybearer came rushing in and descended upon him, crying out as it wracked every inch of his body with a strength that bordered on unbearable. Squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his fists harder than he would have thought possible, he waited out the moments that felt like individual eternities before the pain subsided and he felt Sora’s shaking hands grasping his own. 

He heard Sora calling out to him, the worry and concern laced in his words practically tangible. As desperately as Riku wanted to put on a smile and assure him that everything was fine, it was far too late to do anything of the sort. The reality of the situation, the fact that he was  _ dying _ , was beginning to catch up with him as he could feel the darkness tugging on the tattered remains of his humanity he was trying so desperately to hold onto.

Breathing as deeply as he could, he pried one of his eyes open to see Sora leaned over him, tears running down his cheeks and splashing gently onto the soaked tie of his school uniform. Somewhere in the furthest recesses of his mind, RIku acknowledged the faint black haze creeping in on the corners of his vision, but that didn’t matter.

“Sora…” Riku whispered, his voice now extremely hoarse and barely understandable, “Would you...be able to do one...more favor for me?”

Quickly bringing an arm up to remove his glasses and get rid of the tears in his eyes, Sora swiftly rubbed them away before wordlessly nodding in response to Riku’s question, leaving his glasses sitting in his lap.

Riku smiled, though it worried him a bit that Sora was agreeing to his request so easily. “I swore...I would walk the Road to Dawn…I don’t want to...be the reason anyone else falls…”

A rush of sadness filled his heart as he heard a small gasp of realization from Sora.

“You…you want me to..” Sora couldn’t even bring himself to finish voicing the thought. A fresh round of hot tears welled up in his eyes, running down his already tear-streaked cheeks without a fight.

“You’ll see me again...don’t worry…” Riku said, attempting to console his partner, his  _ best friend _ , as he watched Sora transform into his Keybearer gear in a brilliant flash of ruby red light. “I promise…”

Sora gave the smallest of nods in acknowledgement. “Right….” he whispered to himself before his face was wiped clean of all emotion except for raw determination as he summoned his Keyblade. Widening his stance, he pointed the tip of the simple silver and gold key towards the Soul Gem sitting in Riku’s open palm and began channeling energy into the tip of the blade.

With one final smile, Riku allowed his eyes to slip shut against the bright light of Sora’s magic.

_ I believe in you, Sora...and I hope that one day, you’ll be able to believe in yourself, too… _

With a crude mixture of a battle cry and a wail of agony, Sora launched a volley of light magic towards Riku’s Soul Gem, hoping with every fiber of his being that it would be enough to do the job quickly and relatively painlessly. After a moment of silence, a bright ring akin to that of shattering glass rang through the air and shook the brunette to the core.

“Riku…” Sora whispered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut and swiftly turning on his heel. He didn’t think he would be able to handle seeing Riku’s now lifeless body. With a shaky breath, he clenched his fists as tightly as he could. He had a promise he had made to Riku, and he intended to keep it.

Channeling almost all of his remaining magic, he held his keyblade out in front of him as the air around him buzzed with electricity. Holding out until the faint static tingle slowly increased into a painful burning sensation, he thrust the blade forward, piercing layer upon layer of realities before opening up a doorway to a place Sora had decided to call Betwixt and Between.

With a long sigh, he spared the slightest of glances back in Riku’s direction, seeing his broken glasses lying in the city-wide puddle next to the shattered remains of black and purple crystal. The thought crossed his mind to go and retrieve them, but he pushed it aside without thinking. He didn’t even really need them, anyways. Not ever since he had become a Keybearer, but that wasn’t exactly something he could go around telling people, so he had kept wearing them and pretending like nothing had changed. 

But now, things  _ had  _ changed, and Sora held the key to righting the wrongs he had witnessed.

He could...no, he was  _ going _ to save Riku. Kairi, Lea, and Ephemer and his crew, too! He had the opportunity to give  _ everyone _ a second chance. He couldn’t afford to fail, not with so many people counting on him.

“Don’t worry, guys...I won’t let you down!”

With a determined glint in his darkened blue eyes, he took a step into the portal and set off to rewrite history and give everyone the happy endings they deserved.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up, I won't be publishing these one-shots in chronological order as they occur, but I will do my best to ensure they are in chronological order on the series page each time I post a new one since I'm kinda writing these as I feel inspired to...


End file.
